May 21, 2007

Blizzard WWI '07: StarCraft Tournament Finals

The StarCraft tournament finals were held in the main auditorium at the Olympic Stadium. The seats were packed with people watching; they yelled and cheered like at any live sporting event. The finals had Ma Jae-Yoon (a.k.a. "sAviOr") playing the Zerg race against Kim Taek-Yong (a.k.a. "Bisu," who we saw earlier today) as the Protoss for best of three. While sAviOr, the top-ranked player, won the first game, Bisu, ranked third overall, came back and creamed him in rounds two and three for an exciting, nail-biting competition. (See the final moments of it here.)

Each player was sequestered in a little booth at each side of the stage, while the game was shown on the giant screen. Two announcers gave the play-by-play the entire time. I never knew what they were saying, but it seemed pretty thrilling for everyone watching.

StarCraft champion Bisu collecting his prize: a giant check for 10,000 USD. (If it were 10,000 Won, it'd be only 10 bucks!)

All of the tournament winners and their checks. For more about pro StarCraft competitions, click here.